According to Daniel J Levitin, author of “This is your brain on music,” music is unique among human activities in terms of its ubiquity and antiquity. While conducting research on this subject, we discovered in the pages of his book that no known human culture, either now or in the recorded past, is devoid of music. Musical instruments are among the earliest physical artefacts discovered in human and protohuman excavation sites. For the majority of the world’s population and for the majority of human history, music-making was as natural as breathing and walking.
What exactly is music? Why do some songs move us so much, while others do not? Where does creativity in music originate?
And what about perception’s role in all of this, the uncanny ability of great musicians and engineers to pick up on subtleties that the majority of us miss? And why do some people find it so easy to compose music while others struggle?
We will delve into these questions and more in this episode of The GENIUS of…Music and hear from three Genius 100 Visionaries:
Based in Los Angeles, Shuki Levi, an award-winning composer, songwriter, recording and performing artist, who has garnered 15 gold and platinum records with sales in excess of 14 million records worldwide. He has scored over a dozen feature and television films, composed the music for over 130 television shows, and produced, written and directed multiple film and television projects. He has also composed over 100 memorable television theme songs, including Inspector Gadget, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Spider-Man, and X-Men. Shuki holds the world record for composing the most television theme songs. A self-taught musician, Shuki mastered the guitar by the age of 14 and founded one of Israel’s first rock groups.
From Miami: Maestro Eduardo Marturet, Music Director and Composer of the Miami Symphony Orchestra, who shared in his vision statement that “music is a powerful unifying tool, as stones and crystals are powerful healer.” And, has integrated the “Golden Ratio” also known as the Fibonacci sequence into his musical compositions. Additionally, he composed Planet 9 which you will hear more about in a moment.
From Pasadena, California, Konstantin Batygin is an American astronomer and a professor of Planetary Science at Caltech. He is the Co-Founder of Planet 9, a hypothetical planet in the outer region of the Solar System. He is the lead guitarist and vocalist for the hard rock band The Seventh Season. And as mentioned a moment ago, Eduardo Marturet was inspired by Konstantin’s discovery and composed a 12-minute piece that was performed live by the Miami Symphony Orchestra with Konstantin on electric guitar.